Link Feast For Writers, vol. 12

Writing blogs are a great way to learn about the craft and marketing our work. Enjoy the posts I’ve hoarded, some older, some recent.

 

On Writing

Writers Must Be 3 People At Once by Julie Musil

Plotting By The Numbers by Janalyn Voigt

How To Make The Most Of A Scene by Jami Gold

Story Threads In The Hunger Games by Randy Ingermansson (PDF E-zine)

Dan Brown Wants His Cookie Cutter Back: Fix Your Dysfunctional Characters by Chris Abouzeid

Surprise vs. Suspense by Bryan Thomas Schmidt

Sow Seeds Of Foreshadowing Early: Case Gattaca by Jim Van Pelt

Strategies For Crafting Good Dialogue by Leslie Geffrenius

What Makes A Great Final Sentence by Ava Jae

5 Story Mistakes Even Good Writers Make (Writer’s Digest)

How To Break The Rules of Writing (Writer’s Digest)

Writing Contests: The Extra Push In The Right Direction by Kathy Crowley

Short Story Writing by Declan Conner

Forging Stories: Exploring the Metaphor by Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff

5 Lessons On Writing From The Hunger Games by Susan Johnston

6 Tips To Create The Write Frame Of Mind by Krissy Brady

Fill Your Writing Pickle Jar Right by Krissy Brady

Writing: Find The Time Or Don’t by John Scalzi

Introvert’s Writing Convention Guide by Morgan Dempsey at Inkpunks

How To Write A Query Letter For YA Novel by Kristi Cook

Why Read Fiction And Write It by Necee Regis

 

Your Author Platform

Hand Puppet Marketing For Introverts by Crystal Williams

Grow Your Crazy-Dedicated Fanbase Through Reader Centered Book Marketing (DuoLit)

5 Places To Find New Readers & 3 Ways To Make Sure They Stick Around by Toni Tesori

How To Create A Great Author Tagline by Jean Oram

What Does Your Author Bio Say Of You by Jami Gold

Comparison Shopping: Who Else My Readers Read by C.J. Lyons

Book Marketing: Don’t Do It Alone by Tony Eldridge

7 Book Marketing Mistakes Authors Make (Book Buzzr)

How To Turn Website Visitors Into Customers For Your Creative Business

7 Bad Habits Of Insanely Productive People by CopyBlogger

Jane Friedman‘s Interview On Marketing & Building An Author Platform

How I Became An Amazon Best Seller And How You Can Too by Annabel Candy

 

Blogging

Slow Blog Manifesto & 8 Reasons Why by Anne R. Allen

5 Tips For Maintaining Your Blogging Momentum by Susan Johnston

14 Proven Ways To Simplify Your Blogging And Get More Done by Nick Thacker

Mavens, Connectors, Visionaries, Promoters, Identifiers: Which Are You by Danielle LaPorte

(What does your type mean for your blogging style?)

How To Train Yourself To Become A Great Blogger (Social Media Today)

Lazy Woman’s Guide To Copywriting by Pamela Wilson

Pinterest Friendly Blog Posts: 5 Steps by August McLaughlin

3 Guest Post Pitches That Got The Gig by Carol Tice

How To Make Your Site The Destination For Your Market by Chris Garrett

Inbound Marketer’s Complete Guide To Newsjacking

Here’s an example of how Chuck Wendig utilized genre news for his blog post. And the original piece of news at Fantasy Faction.

Another great way to ride the wave of hot topics is to relate your blog post to a recent popular movie or other phenomenon.

5 Ways To Promote Your Blog by Susan Johnston

Find Blog Topics By Mind Mapping by Michele Linn

How To Write A Post That Goes Viral by Neil Patel

 

Social Media

White Knuckling Your Author Platform: Reign In The Social Media Pressure by Roni Loren

5 Types Of Social Media Influencers (Who are these influencers for your readers?)

How To Get Twitter Followers Without Using Mass Following Tools (Social Mouths)

10 Steps To Make Your Facebook Page Shine (Social Mouths)

10 Reasons Your Facebook Page Is Not Taking Off (Social Mouths)

Can Facebook Hold Your Page Hostage by Kristen Lamb

Is Tumblr Right For Your Book by Karma Bennett (resounding yes if you write YA)

3 Pinterest Strategies (Social Media Today)

 

Collected Wisdom

Blog Treasures by Gene Lempp (June 9)

Twitterific by Elizabeth S. Craig (June 10)

Fill Me In Friday by Roni Loren (June 8 )

Friday Features by Yesenia Vargas (June 8 )

Writing on the Ether: Fight For Air by Porter Anderson (June 7)

I Can’t Do This Because I Don’t Have…. by Crystal Williams

 

Deep Stuff

In Praise Of Browsing by Lisa Gold

Lets Talk About Search by Lisa Gold, Research Maven

Beating The Anxiety Of Online Reading by Leo Baubata

Why People Hate Productivity by Jonathan Mead

Teach Your Children Well by Sarah Hoyt

If I’m So Smart, Why Am I Not Rich? by Crystal Williams

Why You Can’t Make That Habit Stick (Rock Your Day)

Why You Can’t Make That Habit Stick – Continued (Rock Your Day)

 

Fun Stuff

EYECANDY! If you’re interested in it, Michelle has likely Pinned it.

Writing Websites I’d Like To See

Prometheus Movie Review by Chuck Wendig

77 Healthy Snacks

Meal Planning For Busy Moms & Dads

Multitasking: Make Twice The Mistakes In Half The Time by Coleen Patrick

Are You an Veggie, an Egg Or a Coffee Bean? by Louise Behiel

Time Traveling Through The English Language With A Historical Thesaurus by Lisa Gold

How To Have A Baby by Ellie Ann Soderstrom

4 Page Turning Book Recommendations by Marilyn Dahl

Link Feast Vol. 3

Writing blogs are a great way to learn about the craft and marketing our work. Enjoy the posts I’ve hoarded, some older, some recent.

On Writing

Ira Glass on Storytelling – What nobody tells the beginners…

Lynn Viehl’s freebies for writers. Just wow what great resources. Grab her novel writing diagrams and the workshops she’s sharing.

Beyond the Cliché: How To Create Characters That Fascinate by Becca Puglisi

Scene building 101 by Lynn Viehl

Find the right balance of dialogue and description at Write It Sideways

Shape up flabby writing by using stronger words at Write It Sideways

What makes a great villain? by Alexandra Sokoloff

How to find your story’s archetype and similar stories to study by Alexandra Sokoloff

Fairy tale structure by Alexandra Sokoloff

Lynn Viehl busts 4 first chapter mistakes

What tone does your first line set? Lynn Viehl

How to dissect a story by Laura Pauling

Plot Busters: Dissecting How To Train Your Dragon (the movie) by Laura Pauling. Serious spoiler warning. Don’t read if you haven’t seen the movie and want to do so without knowing things in advance.

Three stages of research by Laura Pauling

How to find rather than make writing time by Jessica Strawser at Writer’s Digest

Stacy Green sheds light on the difference between suspense novels and thrillers

Rhian Bowley shares some do’s and dont’s on writing sci-fi and fantasy. This line made me laugh: “Don’t be a [literary] snob, be a slut.”

12 myths about being a writer by Anne R. Allen

Brilliant post from Rob Preece about writing male and female characters: Women are from Venus and men are annoying

Laura Paulig shares her revision method

Janice Hardy’s tips on staying organized during revision

 

Writer Wellness

Kick the sugar crack habit by Sandra Brougher

How to make the Chocolate Diet work by K.B. Owen

 

Your Author Platform

Identify your novel’s genre by Rachelle Gardner

Are you riding waves or creating them? by Jonathan Mead

Will you like my books? by Emily Casey (a useful excercise for all writers)

11 keys to Self Publishing success by Bob Mayer

Choosing the right pen name by Talli Roland

11 things I wish someone had told me about blogging by Victoria Mixon

12 things that will kill your blog post every time by SEOmoz

Clear phlegm from your blog posts by Carol Tice

How to pick the right stock photo for your blog posts by Caitlin Muir at Author Media

April Platform Challenge: Day 7 by Robert Lee Brewer (How to add Share Buttons to your blog)

12 steps to blog tour success by Joel Friedlander

What authors and publishers can learn from the Hunger Games movie marketing campaign by Rachel Stark

Social Media (Facebook special)

6 reasons authors should love Facebook Timeline by Lisa Hall-Wilson

How to set up Facebook timeline by BookBaby

Facebook Timeline Mashup by Lisa Hall-Wilson

How to increase your readership by using Facebook Timeline by BookBaby

How to set up an author page at Facebook by BookBaby

Jenny Hansen gives a primer on recent Triberr changes

 

Collected Wisdom

Gene Lempp’s Blog Treasures (April 7th)

Twitterific by Elizabeth S. Craig (April 8th)

Writing on the Ether by Porter Anderson (April 7th)

Fill me in Friday by Roni Loren (April 6th)

Kait Nolan’s link mashup (April 3rd)

 

Deep Stuff

Could you be an evil person? by Marcy Kennedy

Superheroes and ethics

Heroine Quest, or The Fairytale Problem by A.C. Wise (lack of proactivity in story heroines)

Are you wearing the Orc mask or the Marilyn mask? by Lisa Hall-Wilson

13 characteristics of children from emotionally barren families by Louise Behiel

 

Fun Stuff

If baby animals make you go aww, this Pinterest board is for you.

Hilarious plot fixes by Lynn Viehl

Back to the 80s with Shah Warton

Game of Thrones, Season 2’s first episode is out. Warning: Spoilers

Ten Things Generated by Online Generators by Lynn Viehl (comes with links to the generators so you can have your own fun)

Weird Name Generator by Lynn Viehl (she has gotten story ideas out of these)

Jeri Westerson talks about her Medieval Noir novel Troubled Bones (Medieval Noir is such a cool concept that I was instantly sold)

 

P.S. I just realized I didn’t include any male hotness this week. Please fill the vacuum by sharing your favourite links (male related or anything else) in the comments 🙂